How not to lose weight and see the Borders by bike – a six-day East Coast ride to Scotland, on an empty stomach, in February Cycling from Harrogate to the Central Belt – through the Yorkshire Dales to the East Coast and Northumberland, and from there to Edinburgh and Glasgow, in one week – ambitious? [...]
Almost two months in to 2013 and I have (almost) kept my new year's resolution of giving up alcohol for health and financial reasons. Last year I got through to the summer holidays (with a few minor blips) before falling off the wagon comprehensively. You see, I was in Germany for a few days and [...]
Why does your page not come up for "Cycling in Denmark"? asked Sandra. Because my page is not about Cycling in Denmark I answered. It's about "Cycle Touring in Denmark." As a matter of fact 'my page' is not even about that, but our cycle tour in Denmark. And there are two pages as we've [...]
It was September 21st last and I had breakfast in Le Croix d'Or, as I remember the name of the hotel in Chateauneuf du Faou in Brittany. This was the last day of a six-day solo tour I made, my first solo one for about 10 years. The previous night I had eaten in the [...]
The third and final day of our trip was a spin down the north east coast between Seahouses and Tynemouth before a final run along the Tyne to the finish in central Newcastle. In 73 miles, there proved to be only 718 metres of climbing and a maximum elevation of only 52 metres – it [...]
Day 1 Girona to Olot Aug 27, 2012. Spain. The first day, a big day. We were late getting away – to be expected. There are last minute decisions to make on the first day: what to leave in, what to leave out, how to pack, which route to take. I broke my pump while [...]
Breda to Brussels And so to the final day. I appreciate that ‘proper’ cycling tours are longer and don’t have support vehicles and whilst the cycling was easy it had been a challenge in other ways. One of the things I struggled with was being sociable first thing in the morning! At home I like [...]
Amsterdam to Breda I feel quite sorry for day 3. Day 1 had the excitement of the Grand Depart, Day 2 was our first on the Continent and finished in Amsterdam, Day 4 would be an emotional finish. But, Day 3 was sandwiched in the middle and went to Breda. Breda’s most interesting claim to [...]
Hook of Holland to Amsterdam Day 2 started for me at around 4am as I awoke from my slumber. I needed to take a wee but as I lay in the bunk (quite large as I was first in the cabin and had grabbed the double) I was aware of a heavy rocking motion. The [...]
London to Harwich Brentwood in Essex was the precise departure point for my Euro City Cycle Challenge. I was taking part to raise money for The Sick Children’s Trust. The original quest was a London to Newcastle ride but this was cancelled due to poor marketing by the charity. Advertised as starting in London, I [...]
Day 2 of our Coast and Castles adventure took us from St Boswells in the Scottish Borders along the Tweed valley to Berwick and then south hugging the Northumbrian coast to Seahouses. Following the monsoon-like conditions of Day 1, the weather gods proved much more benevolant – there was blue sky, there was sunshine and [...]
In my continuing effort to ride every road in Cornwall, the other day, I decided to ride to the Shops. “Shops as well as roads?” I hear you all ask, “How many shops are there? There must be millions!” “No, not shops, silly – Shops!” In Cornwall we have Shops. These are places/hamlets/villages almost invariably [...]
In four days we leave on our first serious tour in over two years. We were lying in bed a couple of weekends past when the panic set in. It happens before every trip. For months you anticipate and day dream about the ride and think of all the great setup work you'll do to [...]
The Coast and Castles South cycle route runs from Edinburgh to Newcastle, via Melrose and Berwick – a total distance of just over 200 miles. It forms a small part of NCN1 – Dover to The Orkneys via London and the east coast (now there's an idea for a future trip!). My company has a [...]
Well, I wish I had brought them along with me at any rate! One thing at least that Audax cycling does is to re alight the ‘Be Prepared’ motto from many of our outdoor pursuit activities. Was I glad I was prepared! The island was hosting its TT Motorbike Festival, and the TT Practice week [...]
The rivers that flow northwards from Germany and Eastern France are interesting. The Rhine, really a German river (Rhein), flows from Switzerland through Germany as far as Holland where about two thirds of its water volume becomes the Waal, going west where the river splits just before Nijmegen. The other third goes north to Arnhem [...]
Mid May saw us off on our annual French trip with me cycling and Dennis travelling by car. I'd really like to go to the more mountainous parts of France but I can't face the long drive required to get there so this year we decided to cycle the lower reaches of the Loire and [...]
I had entered The Marcher Audax in Shropshire organised by Andrew Seabourne and was looking forward to the challenge, until my health got the better of me again. I tested a 200km on the island and miserably failed it. As the Marcher Lord is a 3,000m climb Audax, I swapped it for the 100km ride [...]
OK, so you're going for a ride. How far? How fast? Your call, but to some extent out of your hands. Blame the weather, the hills, your lack of training. But how direct? Just A to B? Round trip? Stopping off on the way, stopping as little as possible, stopping to smell the roses? Here's [...]
Part Two of my Exmoor to Truro cycle ride by Roads Less Travelled Lynmouth, 1952 Lynton (visible) and Lynmouth from Countisbury Hill
After seeing the nude Peruvian cyclists article I casually scanned Google Images for 'nude cylists' (as one does) and somehow came upon this photo: He is fully dressed for cycle touring. I think the reason this came up was because he mentioned on his blog that he'd posted a nude cycling photo of himself then [...]
The Granite Way is a cycle track built on the dismantled London and Southwestern Railway line – later used by the Great Western Railway, and still later by BR Southwestern Region – between Lydford and Okehampton, Devon. It is maintained by a partnership of Sustrans and Devon County Council. It forms part of Route 27. [...]
Hello all! Happy New Year, and thanks for coming back – after three months I've just finished collecting my sponsorship in for my Singaroundiceland cycle tour (£3933, plus another few hundred in Gift Aid!), but now it's about time I told you a bit more about the place, and set a few myths to rest. [...]
Hello all! Yes, I'm back.. and yes, I finished! 3000km, 3000 photos and £3000 raised (and counting..) but the story isn't over yet. Collecting money is the Devil's own job, hence my silence on this page since my return! To keep you amused, here's an article I wrote for the Reykjavik Grapevine (published online two [...]
I'd been cycling in Brittany in the past, perhaps eight or nine times. My friend Mick Lehane had only been there once and twisted my arm for a late autumn tour as he hadn't been touring this year, so the Cork-Roscoff ferry was booked and off we went. The wonderful view of Cobh and its [...]
Loches is a small town in the chateau region of France. We know (or knew) it quite well from family camping holidays in the 1990s. It's not always a good idea to return to places from one's past but we did for a week this autumn with our bikes – Sandra and me, that is. [...]
A few weeks ago we booked a bargain break to Guernsey. We had intended to go in the middle of September but as prices fell significantly on October 1st that was the day we booked to go. And what a great decision that turned out to be! Mid September was stormy but on October 1st [...]
One more block The engine talks Whispers 'Home at last" Whispers "Home at last" Tom Waits – "Diamonds on My Windshield" Home at last. We have just finished a three day ride on Lady CoMo from the cottage to Ottawa and are shivering and exhausted. However, we are still talking to each other, and the [...]
Time for another rest stop and a sarnie break – here's my latest update on progress round Iceland, musings on life, geology and everything Icelandic – and maybe a paragraph or two about cycling, singing or both! Coming to you LIVE from Akureyri, cultural hotspot and capital of the north, and home to some truly [...]
Well, Lands End to John O Groats, that Iconic cycle route.
Hello all! Here's the first proper account of my cycle trip round Iceland, after a little over one week's cycling round Snaefellsnes, some unseasonal and untypical good weather, and some hardcore offroading! Hæ to all Icelandic viewers, and Hello to all you good folks at home! The Finest Workhorse Rachel* – plus luggage and flag [...]
A year ago I got on Brown Bike, fell off the other side, and broke my hip. Since then BB has been doing sterling service ferrying me to the hospital, doctors, shopping, meetings and the usual mundane activities, plus a few fun rides. But he's a tourer at heart and we both needed a holiday [...]
Singing around Iceland ... OK, the gloves are on (almost), the promises and bold pledges made, the flight tickets, travel money and insurance bought... now all I have to do is actually do it! Greetings from Iceland! – a three-hour flight and a world away from where I was a week ago. Currently 00:24 and [...]
The top of Tennyson Down, Isle of Wight A cycling trip we'd looked forward to since February came around last weekend, with my cousin Sally and her husband Jimmy who live in Hampshire. The plan was to cycle from their house and stay two nights in B&Bs but it was only a couple of weeks [...]
Hello all! This is Daniel Hutton (who joined CycleSeven's Yorkshire Dales 100m ride on Saturday 23 July), and my account of my solo tour round Iceland during August and September 2011 – fundraising for Carers' Resource in Yorkshire and Ljósið in Iceland, and getting accommodation where possible by 'singing for my supper' en route! – [...]
I'm off on Sunday the 17th of July on a 1,000mile jaunt "oop north and back". This wonderful CycleSeven team have organised a long ride into the Yorkshire Dales National Park and not only have I agreed to ride with them, I've decided to ride there and back too. I needed a good excuse for [...]
Another tour. This time to the Lake District. Why the Lake District? Well, other than its close location to my home, I have been reading up recently all about the life and times of Beatrix Potter, and I wanted to seek out where she lived and where the National Trust was born. I had of [...]
The 16th of July is fast approaching, the day I leave to ride north. First stop is Bridgwater (88miles), then Yarkhill (near Ledbury) (92miles), then Wrexham – (82miles). (I'm exhausted just talking about it!) Then it's a short one to south Manchester (48miles) and a well earned day off! I will arrive at Skipton after [...]
We've had several enjoyable short trips to France in the last few years with me cycling and Dennis accompanying me on a 49cc scooter. However whenever we've tried to go for a fortnight or more something has gone badly wrong. The year before last Dennis' ancient Honda 90 gave up the ghost and had to [...]
A two-week tour. I've not done a tour of this length since I was a teenager. Cool morning A tour of the Danube with a couple of American strangers that I had met on the Crazyguyonabike website. The plan was to link up with them on day 2 of my ride as I would be [...]
Friedel Grant interviews world cyclist Alvaro Neil. "Inspirational" tends towards cliché nowadays but this does seem the real thing. Her video is mostly audio so downloads quickly. Well done Friedel, and Alvaro of course. I really enjoyed it.
Some help, perhaps, in response to: I need to address the luggage thing. Anyone fancy putting a 'What you should bring on a cycle tour post' please. It depends on length of tour, whether abroad or not, and camping, but here is what we are taking to Holland on our forthcoming 2-week cycle tour (camping):
I love camping, I always have. As a very small child I used to make tents from old sheets and broom handles and when an older cousin gave me his old 'pup' tent I was in seventh heaven. Camping with the Guides soon followed, my parents were slightly hurt that I never wanted to come [...]
The Way of the Roses, then back via Leyburn in Herriot Country. Tina and I set off in the still of morning, and as luck would have it, a runner was panting towards us and so took our first photograph of the trip. Tina and I at Groudle Glen enroute to the ferry
The Way of the Roses. I like to plan my own rides and where I cycle having already ridden several Sustrans routes since I began cycling in 2007. Tina knew someone on the island who had ridden the new Sustrans route – Way of the Roses and she wanted to do this ride. Well, why [...]
The Yorkshire Wolds Cycle Route is a loop of more than 140 miles using mostly NCN-marked roads. As far as I am aware there isn't an official starting place, but for no other reason than my own convenience I see Beverley – the most significant point closest to my home – as the beginning of [...]
Cycle touring in Denmark, 2010 (Germany across the water) It's already nearly one third of the way from the winter solstice to the summer solstice and Mrs Taylor reminded me that we need to get on and plan our cycling tour of Holland in May. She's the one who'll decide which places we visit, so [...]
As anyone who has read my earlier post will know, I am a great admirer of this remarkable woman. I was therefore very pleased to discover that a biography has just been published in her native New Zealand.
On the way to Timoleague In May-June we did a tour of the Emerald Isle. I have copied below the text of our trip report, which was originally published on Mary's web site in September. Photos can be viewed here. (There are a few dropped links, but with patience you can view them all). Roscarbery [...]
CycleSeven 2009-2013 [0.341/0.656 secs]
